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There are more than 750 registered nonprofits in Bethesda alone, according to market research website Manta. They help create $2.2 billion in wages countywide, according to the report titled “Beyond Charity: Nonprofit Business in Montgomery County.”

There are more than 750 registered nonprofits in Bethesda alone, according to market research website Manta. They help create $2.2 billion in wages countywide, according to the report titled “Beyond Charity: Nonprofit Business in Montgomery County.”

Thursday, February 07, 2013

A yearlong dance marathon may, at first, sound like a daunting and perhaps sweaty challenge. Two students on campus see it instead as a commitment to help children in need. Jared Wylan, senior in communication studies, and Tom Fredrickson, senior in journalism and mass communications, are now urging students to become a part of the nationwide ‘Dance Marathon’ philanthropy community.

Are your board members truly engaged in the work of your organization? If your organization is like most, the answer is "yes" and "no." You're doing well if engaged describes half of your board members. But what about the other half?

Perhaps the biggest key to a nonprofit's success is the strength of its volunteer board of directors. Everyone wants to have the high-profile community leaders who can open doors and get things done on their board. Of course, every other nonprofit in the community is lusting after those same strong volunteers to help their efforts. These folks will often sit on multiple boards serving a variety of community needs. If you want to be the go-to nonprofit in your sector, then you need to be strategic in how you engage and use your high-profile board members.

Camp, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, announced Tuesday that he wants representatives from the charitable sector to testify to the Committee about how limits to the charitable deduction would impact nonprofits.

The AFP Blog: Embrace Fundraising...or Don't!: There's a new study out which I'm sure will create a lot of conversation within the sector. It shows that charities are having a hard time finding qualified development directors and that vacancies for fundraising positions are averaging six months and often longer. Smaller organizations are having an especially difficult time, which is further compounded by many development directors indicating they are planning to leave their current jobs within two years.

Stormy Weather Pushed Giving Higher for 2012 - TheNonProfitTimes: Charitable giving in the United States is estimated to have grown 1.7 percent on a year-over-year basis during 2012, with small organizations doing the best and large organizations losing ground. Had it not been for Super Storm Sandy last October, fundraising might have posted an overall loss.

Online giving is estimated to have made a rebound of 10.7 percent, with medium-sized organizations leading the way but all sizes showing gains.

Liberating 990 Data | Stanford Social Innovation Review: The IRS does make nonprofits’ Form 990 returns available, but only on DVDs for a high fee. A single year’s worth of 990s costs over $2,500, arguably to recoup the costs of pressing and mailing all these dics. But there is no reason to charge for the Form 990 data at all. Just as most people have gotten accustomed to sharing large files via a service like Drop Box, it would be simple for the IRS to publish the returns online for anyone to download in bulk for free. This week two groups committed to government transparency, Public Resource and the Internet Archive, used their own resources to post 12 years of returns online, demonstrating that it can be done.

Lots of people are talking, writing, and blogging about this report. For example, check out the articles in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, January 13, 2013, and in the Nonprofit Quarterly, January 19. Another example: Pam Grow’s well-titled blog, “If you’re not committed to funding your mission, you’re not committed to your mission.”

“For the first time we’ll have a collaborative space where leaders can come together,” he says. “I’m fascinated to see what folks in social enterprise can learn from leaders of military service, and vice versa.”

In addition to the continued rising cost of feed -- which can put further crimps in an already tight operating budget -- Smetana said her biggest concern is that horses will face neglect or be sold to slaughterhouses.